Indomitable
by The King in White
Summary: "If you have need of me, I will fight forever to defend you."
1. Link I

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Zelda franchise, and I make no profit writing anything about it.**

 **(AN)** : Uh, hello. Just decided to start plugging away at this since I've been diving through Zelda fic after Zelda fic. The basic premise of this is "What if Link remembered every life he's lived?" I'm not really sure what the end goal of this is, since it's basically a novelization of OoT, MM, and TP (since I've played a few of the others, but only those three make it to my favorites list).

* * *

Link woke from dreams of blood and fire.

" _Hylia!_ " Tore from a ten year old throat, twisted with grief and joy mingled in an odd symphony as the boy rolled out of bed and hit the wooden floor in a flailing ball of limbs.

The sensation of pain shot through Link's elbow, making the boy wince and throwing off the last shades of his nightmare memories. Blue eyes crinkled tiredly as Link pressed his palms to his aching temples, mussing blonde strands.

"Goddesses help me." The young hero prayed, feeling the faint sting of tears in the corners of his eyes as he drew in a gasping breath. Wrestling control over his shaking limbs, Link brushed aside the cobwebs of the many lives crowding in the corners of his brain and cast an assessing eye over his surroundings.

Wood everywhere. Wooden floor with wooden walls and wooden furniture and through the windows the sight of trees barely visible in the early morning mist. It was _familiar_...and not in the usual way things were once he Awoke and assimilated the memories of whatever incarnation he was living in.

Brushing his blonde forelocks out of his eyes, Link huffed a breath and hauled himself to his feet. Even his clothing gave no hint to his history. It was green and crafted in the iconic form of the hero's garb that had passed down through history.

Light flashed through his vision, and Link instantly reacted with all the battle honed instincts of the warrior he was. Snatching a ball of light from the air, Link frowned down at the wriggling fairy in his grip – they weren't present in every life he'd lived, but they were in enough to give no hint as to where and when he was. "Who are you?"

"Let me go this instant you rude boy!" she squealed, buzzing up and away in an offended circle after he released his grip compliantly. "I have never in all my years met a Kokiri as breathtakingly rude as you!"

Raising an eyebrow, the ten year old Hylian offered the bobbing fairy a sharp glance. "A Kokiri?" There hadn't been Kokiri in hundreds of years and through several of his lives. Link had believed they'd passed into legend, but perhaps some of them had managed to hold out somewhere after all. Hyrule would be better for their re-emergence.

"Yes?" the fairy offered, pure confusion radiating through her tone and causing Link to wince. If she was treating it like an odd question, then he was obviously acting strangely concerning common knowledge. Din's breath! _Where_ were his memories of this incarnation?

"But enough about that, Link." Cut into his churning thoughts. "The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on. Not that we're getting off to such a good start." She mumbled with low resentment. "So _nice_ to meet you."

Scratching the back of his skull with embarrassment, Link offered a small grin. "Sorry about that! I just rolled out on the wrong side of the bed this morning and was a bit disoriented. I didn't mean to grab a fairy like that – I thought you were something else."

The fairy's light grew in thoughtful intensity, shimmering faintly orange before floating a slow circle away. "Apology accepted!" she chimed, all irritation fainting away with all the typical forgiveness that fairies were marked by. "My name is Navi. I'm pleased to meet you."

The world dropped out beneath his feet, and Link was barely about to hold on to his mind through the abrupt roaring of blood in his ears. _Navi_? Rocked incredulously through his mind, stirring up memories from _that_ life. The only life that he'd _lost_.

Words about meeting the Great Deku Tree flew over the boy hero's head as he nodded mechanically, struggling to contain the despair and tide of memory flowing through his veins. Blood and steel filled his lungs as Ganondorf cut through him. Zelda was screaming in the backround, pain and fear and death in her voice as the incarnation of Demise tore her into bloody fragments.

"Link, are you okay?"

His voice was rough and low as he growled out "I'm alright." Tortured blue orbs rose from the floor to follow the twisting fairy as she led him from his house and into the paths of the Kokiri Village. _Goddesses please if you ever loved me don't make me do this again. I might be a child of violence but I can't handle this again –_

Warmth. Golden, pure warmth burning through his left hand and up his arm. _Courage_ it whispered through his muscles. _Faith_ reverberated in the wounded spaces of his seizing heart. Link sucked in a fortifying breath, steadying himself against the constant presence of the Triforce of Courage in preparation to begin his life anew.

Digging through the dusty chamber of his memories, Link brushed off the pain associated with the Downfall and began to move. Navi cried out in confusion behind him as the fairy turned from leader to follower. The ageless man turned boy knew exactly when and where to go to begin his journey. He had a sword to find, a bully to get past, and an Emerald to find.

The nightmares and the tears could come later, as they always did in his dreams, life after life. The goddesses had either gifted him or cursed him with a second chance, and the Hero of Legend had no intention of being defeated this time.

 _Hylia. Hylia. Hylia._ Sang through him, twisting up in love and determination. A dozen lives and a thousand years ago he'd stood on the fields of the land _his_ Goddess defended and sworn an oath he would never break. It didn't matter how badly he suffered, or how many tears he cried, or how much blood he shed, that promise would hold.

Even if the enemy was his oldest friend and deadliest foe – the Hundred Year Man – it could only increase his will to see his vow fulfilled. Eternity had been promised, and eternity would be given regardless of the spite of Demise.

"My love." He breathed without care for Navi's ears as he pulled the Koriri Sword from the chest Mido had hidden it in. "I will fight _forever_ to defend you."

 _Zelda._

 _I'm coming.  
_

* * *

 **(AN):** 1000 words. So short, yes I know. I suppose I just wanted to blurb out something and get a bit of a start on it. Although I don't title chapters with "Prologue", I suppose this would be the closest to one. Hopefully later chapters will be longer.

Anyway, the basic concept behind this story is "What if Link remembered all of his previous lives at the start of his adventures?" I don't want to just rehash whatever we've already seen. But I suppose I'll lay out a few baselines so we know the state of things before I continue on.

 **Link** remembers, as does Ganondorf (partially), but Zelda only knows her current life. This is an odd concept I came up with a few days ago. Essentially, Link remembers who he is because of the godly magic associated with his reincarnation.

 **Zelda** /Hylia does not remember because access to those memories was something she gave up explicitly as part of becoming mortal and may only access the memories of her counterparts in fragmented form with the assistance of the Triforce of Wisdom.

 **Ganondorf** doesn't remember Link's adventures. Rather, he remembers his previous lives as King of the Gerudo. He doesn't even have a true name since he's the _Hundred Year Man_. Essentially, the King of the Gerudo is born, lives a life, dies, and is reborn as the next King of the Gerudo with all his memories of the lives he's ever lived. He was Link's best friend (since he's the only one in a remotely similar situation) and all around decent fellow until the spirit of Demise decided to inhabit his soul to spite the Hero (during his life as "Ganondorf" in OoT and every rebirth since). _Ganon_ however, is the name of a pig-beast-moblin-thing that Ganondorf was named after due to Demise manipulating the circumstances surrounding the birth.

 **Timelines** : This story takes part as if Link experienced the "Unified Timeline", and then the entire "Downfall Timeline" before getting turned around to relieve a life he thought he'd never see again ( OoT, and thus birthing the Child and Adult timelines). The Goddesses work in mysterious and odd ways, I guess.

 **Pairing** : In case you haven't noticed by the tags, this is Zelda and Link together life after life after life. I like Midna, but the Skyward Sword Manga kind of blew that out of the water. Since that one friggen page "I will fight forever to defend you" I ship Link and Zelda together _for all time_. Plus the whole Hylia becoming mortal only makes sense to me if she's in love with Link – otherwise she'd mourn him and move on, and then just pick another hero if Demise's curse showed back up. But the whole memory loss thing means Link technically has to woo her over and over I suppose, haha.


	2. Ganondorf I

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Zelda franchise, and nor do I make profit writing fanfiction about it.**

 **(AN):** Here goes round two. I decided to just make the chapters by POV I guess.

* * *

 _Wind whistled through his ears, tousling the deep red strands of his pompadour. He grinned, twisting his fingers into the rough feathers of his loftwing and pressed. The great bird dove, churning out breathtaking acrobatics that caused an exultant howl to bubble up in the back of his throat._

 _This was life. This was freedom._

 _It was over all too quickly. Tendons creaked as he guided his loftwing down to the surface, the early morning sun at his back and the last wisps of dewy mist rising from the fields. Karane was waiting for him, weary contentment shining out beneath her carrot orange eyebrows and in the curve of her mouth._

 _Bundled in her arms was their daughter, and an grin blossomed over his face at the sight of her crimson strands poking up between the swaddling. He winked cheerily at his wife, gingerly taking Keeta and cradling the babe to his breast._

" _Don't think I don't know that you're just skipping out on the morning nappy change when you're shoving your head in the clouds."_

 _Sticking his tongue out at Karane, he turned back to his daughter and poked one of her pudgy cheeks with his finger. Compared to his hulking hands, she was small and breakable and infinitely precious._

" _Oi! Are you paying attention to me? Groo-"_

"Ganondorf? Sire? Are you well?"

The King of the Gerudo jolted back to awareness with a half formed snarl on his tanned face. "Enough Aveil." Ganondorf rumbled out, sleep thickening his already deep tones. "You forget your place." Not bothering with a further look of censure, he fisted his meaty hands and turned to stare back into the dancing flames of his party's campfire.

The sound of cloth rustled in his ears as his current body's youngest sister retreated with nary a peep. There was a crick in his neck from having fallen asleep sitting up, and the leathers that clothed him were cutting into his skin with an ungodly amount of discomfort.

Subtly shifting – _The King can never display weakness, The Son of the West Wind is more than mere mortal_ – to alleviate the discomfort, Ganondorf drew his blade and began to sharpen the dark steel. What would be a two-handed weapon for almost anyone else could be wielded by his seven foot frame with a single hand, and with sorcerous runes decorated the flat, it was a sight to intimidate.

Though not as intimidating as the slow turn of shadow magic in his hands. Whispering in the dark and the glinting amber eyes of Gagara Spiritcaller as she tutored Kaleger Sandfather in the ways of magic. Domination and the hallowed dead and the purple flare of _pure dark power_.

Ganondorf breathed.

In.

Out.

Then he dusted past the memories. It had been many lives since he'd first drank deep of the eldritch power and tasted the sinful ecstasy to be found between Gagara's legs. Restraining a chuckle at the automatic twitch to his loins the mere _thought_ of his once-upon-a-time witch-wife, Ganondorf cast a gaze around at the milling Gerudo in his camp.

If there was one thing living as the King of the race of almost entirely women had taught him, it was the pleasures a man could find in the female flesh. Which would probably disgust normal men, since in a way they were all his children, his sisters, and his mothers. But the Hundred Year Man was no _normal_ man, and only Link truly knew his circumstances.

One could hardly go about telling others that they'd woken up in the body of their great-grandchild one day without seeming a loon.

Testing the sharpness of his runic blade against his thumb, Ganondorf gave a small smile and returned the ensorcelled sword to its sheathe. It was a true work of art, both in terms of smithing and enchanting, and he fully intended to show it off the next time he encountered Link.

It was hardly a Master Sword, but given the five centuries or so since his friends had incarnated, he was confident his skill and sorcery that had gone into making it would impress them. _Whenever_ they returned - which was hopefully soon. If living thousands of years had taught him anything, it was a detachment to the inevitable return of Demise's evil – which were always _exciting_ times.

Ganondorf snorted, amber eyes glinting with a morbid humor. "I curse you to live in interesting times indeed."

Fisting his hands, the Gerudo King smoothly rose to his feet and wandered away from the circle of firelight. "Are you out there, Demon King?" he wondered idly, listening to the sound of the night wind rustling through Hyrule Field.

Rage rushed hot and thick through his veins with the tempestuous nature of the desert he was born into. "I dearly wish it." Ganondorf swore then and there, as he had sworn a thousand times since waking up as a bawling babe in his current incarnated flesh. The next time Demise showed his rotten face would be his last.

Yes – he would destroy the curse of that misbegotten devil. Ganondorf would find it and beat him down into a ragged pulp of absolute _nothingness_. He'd return the stolen memories of her past lives to Zelda and make sure the Link would never have to be subject to an eternity of hatred or suffering.

His people – the daughters of the Sand that followed him through life and death with unwavering devotion would be brought to the land of bounty and never have to starve again. Ganondorf would throw down the corrupt and degenerate monarchs of Hyrule and free Zelda from having to shoulder the burden of rebuilding the kingdom time and again.

Just as soon as he managed to reach the Sacred Realm and attain the Triforce. If only that damn meddling plant had given him the Kokiri Emerald when he'd requested it! It was through no fault of his that the Great Deku Tree was dying from the poison filling its roots. It needed to be shown the price of defiance.

You couldn't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, as Link was wont to say. If Ganondorf needed to force them to obey, he would. They would thank him in the end for saving them all from their foolishness. Regardless of how much they'd curse him in the moment or annoy him, he would deliver them from evil anyway.

Yes. Just as soon as he found the Triforce.

* * *

 **(AN):** Wow, so another short thousand words. Maybe the next chapter will be Zelda I? It won't always be such, as I imagine Link will have more going on than anyone else. Or not? I don't have to stick to the game script after all. It just gives me some perimeters to work with...

So. Ganondorf I. As you can see from this, it's a bit of a character and history exposition on him. Few people think they're evil – most are simply misguided. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and that's definitely what Ganondorf is running off of right now. I suppose it'll be a bit more work to corrupt him over time.

In case it wasn't completely and totally obvious, YES, once upon a millennia Ganondorf was Groose. Further details on how exactly Groose became the Hundred Year Man will bubble up over time as I figure things out. As you can imagine though, living thousands of years can evolve you from cowardly goofball to King of Thieves with nerves of steel. He did marry Karane as the dream states, after Pipit went and got himself killed doing something or other.

 _Kaleger "Sandfather"_ \- First King of the Gerudo. The epithet was coined because he was the one the led his clan of redhaired women from Hyrule to the Great Desert and founded the Dragmire Kingdom. Constructed the Spirit Temple under the auspices of his wife, as well as the Gerudo Fortress that traded with the Kingdom of Hyrule.

 _Gagara "Spiritcaller"_ – A witch of the Gerudo, who delved deep into spirit magic within the Haunted Wasteland, and became Kaleger's tutor in spirit magic (and then his lover, and then his wife and queen).

 _Link touching the Triforce in the last chapter_ \- I referenced it as fortifying Link in the last chapter. That's because, yes, he does have access to it as this time. Just as Zelda has _access_ to the Triforce of Wisdom and as Ganondorf has _access_ to the Triforce of Power. Only Link is aware of that connection because of the time jumping the Spirit of the Hero has gone through (Ganondorf has only lived his lives as the Hundred Year Man from his life as Groose to his current life as Ganondorf, and nothing in the Downfall timeline). What is in the Sacred Realm at the time isn't the _connection_ to the Triforce (as they already have that), but rather the Triforce as an actual physical object.

Link is the Chosen of Farore, Zelda is the Chosen of Nayru, and Ganondorf is the Chosen of Din. That's why regardless of location, as long as it's not inside someone else, those three have access to the power of their pieces of the Triforce. Though only Link is aware of that connection - he only started using the Triforce of Courage after he attained it in his "first" OoT life. Before that, the Triforce was a subtle empowerment they all had but none were aware of.


	3. Link II

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Zelda franchise, and nor do I make profit writing fanfiction about it.**

 **(AN):** I hope that I can get a decent start on the fic before my muse inevitably peters out. As long as I'm reading Zelda fanfiction, I should be inspired to write it. So feel free to drop some reading suggestions in the review box.

* * *

Dark ichor spurted in a wild arc, painting the steel of the Kokiri Sword black and drenching the wooden insides of the Great Deku Tree. Link gave a feral smile, bringing the short sword about in a flourish that flung the deku baba's fluids from its surface.

Shoving the Kokiri Sword back into its sheath over his shoulder, Link crouched and began to dig about within the fleshy remains of its head. Navi had squealed in shock and disgust the first time he'd eviscerated one and decided to look for deku nuts, but the fairy had quickly subsided after he tersely explained what he was looking for.

Finding three of the nuts, the boy hero dropped them into a half full satchel with the rest of the deku nuts he'd collected. There was a part of him that just wanted to say _'fuck it'_ and rush off to find Zelda as soon as possible. To blaze through the bowels of the Great Deku Tree so he could slay the Gohma Queen and claim the Kokiri Emerald. But he'd managed to collect _some_ patience in his lives of questing and defeating the incarnations of Demise.

Regardless of how unbearably frustrating it was, Link needed to do his job _right_. Which meant making sure to stop and collect any items or weapons that might be useful or necessary to survive later on in his journey. It meant he needed to put on his Hero face and help anyone that requested his aid. It meant pushing aside his frantic need to see to Zelda's safety personally in order to find a way to defeat Ganondorf.

He'd let his emotions take the reins the last time he'd lived this particular life, and Link remembered very well how Ganondorf had cut him down in a muddy field at the tender physical age of thirteen. Zelda had _told_ him to attend to the Temple of Time and protect the Triforce, but he'd been too sick with worry to listen to her. The Gerudo King had taken control of Castle Town while he'd been wandering the countryside searching for her, and two years later Ganondorf had thrown open the Doors of Time and seized the Triforce of Power for himself. A year after that the King of Evil had hunted them down and put them both to the sword.

 _I failed._

Screwing on a shaky smile for Navi's sake, Link gave a weary chuckle. "Well I think I've found all I'm going to find here." Patting the Fairy Slingshot that was tucked into his belt, the green clad boy turned back to stare across the chasm he'd just crossed to destroy the deku baba and loot the chest containing a compass.

"You know." Link began conversationally as he leapt down into the shallow ravine and dashed over and up to the switch. "I don't really understand _how_ and _why_ the Great Deku Tree is full of machines and ladders and doorways." Forcing his aching body into a run as three pillars rose from the floor of the gully, Link leapt back across the rift to a different ledge to swiftly destroy a gold skulltula that was skittering about.

Navi shimmered through a range of colours in thought before replying in her high pitched voice. "Ages ago, during the Era of Chaos and before the way to the Sacred Realm was sealed away, war descended on Hyrule. Not even the Kokiri were safe from the conflict tearing this land apart."

The fairy guardian hushed as Link rushed in behind an unsuspecting giant skulltula and shoved the short Kokiri Blade through the man-eating predator's soft underbelly. Satisfied after the creature spasmed in agony and subsided in death, she continued her tale.

"Fearing for the Kokiri, the Great Deku Tree summoned the whole of the Green Children before him and said 'It will be many years before the bloodshed for the Golden Power ends, and therefore I say come and shelter within my flesh. I have foreseen the death of all Kokiri if the children should take up arms. Put away your thoughts of war and live peacefully beneath my roots."

Swirling around the Kokiri Sword, Navi giggled at the annoyed look that crossed Link's face. "The Kokiri agreed, and they built homes inside the Great Deku Tree. All save one. The boy Kano had lost his sister after a battle between two warring Gorons spilled into the Lost Woods. Consumed with rage, he forged a sword – the only sword the Kokiri have ever made – and left to fight. He never even made it out of the woods before a stalfos slew him."

"Well that's... morbid." Slicing away a hunk of webbing, Link peered out over the edge of the ledge he was standing on. Far below he could see the very base of the Great Deku Tree, with water faintly shining under distant light. "I suppose that the sword was recovered and it was decided that it would be kept around in case the leader of the Kokiri needed to defend the village?"

"Well yes-"

"Anyway, wish me luck!" Then Link threw himself from the edge, laughing wildly as he sunk like a stone. The soft strands of skulltula webbing caught at his hair and clothes, slowing his fall from suicidal swan dive to a more tepid descent.

" _Link_!"

Landing in the stream that flowed beneath the Great Deku Tree with a smack and a wince at the sting, Link briefly decided that the arse was at least better than the face before swimming to the surface with great strokes.

"You nincompoop! Are you trying to get yourself _splattered_?! By Farore, at least tell me before you do some ridiculous stunt like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Can fairies even get heart attacks?"

"That's beside the point! I'm supposed to be looking after you! How can I do that if you're just going to jump headfirst whenever some mad idea pops into your head?"

Link didn't even try to contain the grin splitting his face as he pulled himself out of the water with some of the vines growing along the walls. By the Three, he'd _missed_ Navi. Ezlo had been reminiscent of a crotchety grandfather, and Fi had been a curious younger sister, but of all his companions Navi was closest to the worried mothers he could barely remember in the dusty moments of his many lives.

The fairy dropped her rant in favour of a shouted warning, and trusting entirely in her perception he leapt back and with a smooth blind draw of the Kokiri Sword, slew the deku baba that he been straining to bite into his flesh.

For the first time since waking up in this miserable life, Link felt remotely happy.

* * *

 **(AN):** Another thousand words for Link. I'm starting to think this might be a decent trend for me. I get annoyed reading other works with such short chapters, but there's always the benefit of being able to write quickly, post quickly, and get feedback quickly. This came together in an hour or so after youtubing some OoT walkthrough videos.

 _Son of the West Wind_ – I forgot to mention it last chapter. One of the Gerudo King's titles, and a direct shout out to The King's Bride by tiger7210.

 _Green Children_ – Just a title for the Kokiri. Don't worry too much about me throwing things like that out. Just helps to flesh up the world lore, I guess.

I also took some time to explain the origin of the Downfall Timeline here. Quite frankly I can't wrap my head around it in terms of canon, since OoT only splits it into Child and Adult timelines. So where does the third pop up? It just exists because "The Hero was defeated in this timeline"? _Really?_ Because if we're going that far I'm calling bullshit. In that case, there's got to be thousands upon thousands of timelines. An eternity of universes from differing results. Might explain why the Goddesses don't intervene though. They must not give much of a shit.

Anyway, for this story the Child and Adult timelines exist because of the direct intervention of the Goddesses. That's why there's only going to be three, and not an infinite number.


End file.
